Iran warplanes fire at U.S. drone

New York Times

Updated 11:02 pm, Thursday, November 8, 2012

Washington --

Iranian warplanes fired at a U.S. military surveillance drone in international airspace over the Persian Gulf last week, Pentagon officials disclosed Thursday, saying that while the aircraft was not hit, Washington made a strong protest to Tehran.

The shooting, which the Pentagon said occurred Nov. 1 - five days before the U.S. presidential election - was the first known instance of Iranian warplanes firing on a U.S. surveillance drone. George Little, the top Pentagon spokesman, said the weeklong official silence on the episode was because of restrictions on discussing classified surveillance missions.

But the episode - and the official silence about it until Thursday - raised questions about whether the delay had been meant to forestall a controversy before the election.

Little said Iranian warplanes "fired multiple rounds" but missed the drone, a Predator. Officials declined to speculate about whether the Iranian pilots were trying to shoot down the drone or were simply firing warning shots. But one official briefed on the episode said the Iranian planes - identified as Soviet-made SU-25 jets known as Frogfoots - carry cannon for supporting ground troops and are not especially adept at air-to-air combat.

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Little said the Predator was flying about 16 nautical miles from Iran while conducting a routine maritime surveillance mission. He stressed that Iran's territorial limits extend 12 nautical miles from its shores, and that the drone never strayed into Iranian space.

Given the critical role of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in the international shipping of petroleum products, the U.S. military conducts regular seaborne and aerial surveillance of those routes.